To the Editors:

I appreciate the coverage the Review (October 2) did on the Voter Registration Coalition and Student Senate's support of registering students to vote; however, I would like to stress that the campaign is the effort of a number of student organizations. While OhioPIRG played an active role in the coalition and in the voter registration effort, there were many groups who planned this project and staffed the tables outside of Wilder. To clarify, the students in the photograph (p. 4 ) were primarily from the Sierra Student Coalition. Thanks to the efforts of the Sierra Student Coalition, the OC Dems, Students United in Reproductive Freedom, Ohio PIRG, the Oberlin Peace Activist League, Local Community Environmental Action, the Women's Resource Center, the Christian Fellowship, and the support of Senate, the Voter Registration Coalition registered almost 300 people to vote in Ohio and provided absentee ballot and out of state registration information to hundreds of others.

It is exciting when student organizations can come together on a project. I hope that it is a coalition that can continue to grow in years to come.

-Margaux Shields

OhioPIRG Representative, College junior

Security officers work in unsafe environment; OCSA pursues fair treatment

To the Editors:

The officers and dispatchers of the Oberlin College Security Association (OCSA) are firmly united in their pursuit of fair and equitable treatment by Safety and Security managers. We negotiated in good faith and signed a new contract with the College in March of this year. Not only is this document a legally-binding agreement for wages, benefits and working conditions, it is a shame that the Director of Safety and Security and his appointed managers have not seen fit to honor the contract in its fullest form, and that OCSA must reach out to the National Labor Relations Board for assistance.

Please understand that OCSA speaks for all of us in the union, officers and dispatchers alike, both full-time and part-time staff. Our mission is to provide the students and the faculty and staff with as safe an environment as is possible, and to respond quickly to your problems. However, it is increasingly more difficult to do this when we must work in an atmosphere of hostility, threats and intimidation. OCSA has the group solidarity and the strong resolve to make the contractual relationship work; we only wish that Safety and Security management would drop its campaign of duress and anti-union pressure and join our efforts.

Don't keep mouth shut on issues of air quality

To the Editors:

I would like to bring up a subject that all people ought to be concerned about, the air we breathe. For it seems that this air, which is vital for our livelihood, is becoming more dangerous for us to breathe because of the higher levels of ozone, or "smog" pollution within the atmosphere today.

This past Thursday, Oct. 8, Ohio PIRG, Ohio Environmental Council Clean Air Conservancy, the American Lung Association, Ohio Citizen Action, and the Clean Air Network co-released "Smog Threat '98," a release regarding the facts of this past summer's levels of ozone pollution in the United States. It stated that residents of Ohio were subjected to 38 unhealthy air days during-the period between April and September and nationwide, the Environmental Protection Agency standard of smog protection for the general public was breached 5,200 times. These unhealthy air days can lead to increased emergency room visits, disrupted lung function, heightened susceptibility to disease or in worst case scenarios, death.

I urge everyone to take a moment to consider the seriousness of this issue. This affects EVERYONE. How could we keep our mouths shut?

-Aaron Manheim

Representative of OhioPIRG's Clean Air Now! Campaign, College first-year

Secession is the only answer for U.S. government obsolescence

To the Editors:

It is our pleasure to write a short description of our organization's objectives; call it an impromptu mission statement.

We believe that the United States government is an obsolete institution in need of redress. Its shortcomings are prevalent and self evident in its lack of efficiency and effectiveness, its submissive pandering to industry, and its apparent self interest and lack of moral and ethical consideration in its domestic and international policies. Frustrated with the visible weaknesses of left-wing parties and the sheer fallacy implicit in socialist ideology, the People's Union is an alternative to small, ineffective demonstrations and an attempt to redefine "radical politics" on a fundamental level. We believe that the government is not in need of change or adjustment, but instead of total replacement.

However, we understand that not everyone agrees with us, which is why we are not calling for a radical change of the United States government or its policies. Instead, we simply want the ability to form our own government and let the people choose between the two.

Our intent is to disseminate information about the possibilities of secession, to discuss the political, legal, and philosophical repercussions thereof and finally conceive an independent state. This state would be a complete legal and territorial separation from our parent country, and immune to all current federal, state, and county laws, legislation, provisos, treatise, acts, amendments, etc. of any other governing body including, but not limited to, The United States, Canada, Mexico, NATO, the United Arab Emirates and Maritime Law.

We are still in our infancy and are struggling to establish ourselves in the oppressively homogenous and closed-minded political environment of this campus. In response to an extremely unwelcoming response by many groups on campus we have been forced to postpone our first meeting until such a time as we might be assured of an orderly and successful gathering. At this time, however, we would like to dispel what appear to be some commonly held views about our organization that are patently false.

We do not promote, or condone any actions currently considered illegal in the United States and surrounding territories, nor do we consider secession a viable option for those solely wishing to change existing legislature or abolish government and law entirely. We do, however, intend to develop and ratify our own constitution and plan a system of government that can exist as an autonomous state for we see this as the only option we have left.

We are not remnants of the failed Southern Revolution. We do not accept or condone any of their views or policies except their right to self-governance. We are also not affiliated with any other political groups; our membership encompasses a wide variety of political, social and cultural backgrounds. We do not consider ourselves Republicans, Democrats, Libertarians, Anarchists, or, for gods' sake, Socialists. We are just a group of students trying to inform our peers of another option in the increasingly confusing and often tumultuous political climate of the campus and the nation. We feel that we are providing an option for political and social change that is as viable as any other and one that will effect more change than has been seen from most activist groups in years.

-Claire Johnson

Resident of Oberlin involved with other members of the Oberlin People's Union for Radical Government